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The Detroit Lions will be under a ton of pressure during the 2025 NFL season. Detroit lost both coordinators to head coaching jobs during the offseason, as well as All-Pro center Frank Ragnow to retirement. The Lions suffered another blow just as the team reported for its first full day of training camp practice.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell announced on Sunday that defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike will miss the entire 2025 NFL season.
Onwuzurike underwent ACL surgery earlier this offseason and will not recover in time to suit up this fall.
This is brutal news for Lions fans ahead of an important 2025 campaign. The Lions dealt with a ton of injuries in 2024, including a hamstring injury to Onwuzurike. He only missed one game in 2024, which had Lions fans hopeful about his future.
Onwuzurike has battled multiple injuries throughout his short NFL career. He reaggravated a back injury during the 2022 offseason that started during his collegiate career at the University of Washington. Onwuzurike missed the entire 2022 season, and a handful of games in 2023, as a result.
Detroit signed Onwuzurike to a one-year contract worth $5.5 million at the start of NFL free agency.
Now his future with the franchise is in serious question.
Now the question becomes: who will replace Levi Onwuzurike’s production on Detroit’s defense?
The answer to that question is quite unclear at the start of training camp.
Detroit still has some lingering defensive injuries after their injury-riddled 2024 campaign. Defensive tackle Alim McNeill tore his ACL late in the 2024 season and is not expected to return until the second half of 2025. Second-year player Mekhi Wingo also suffered a season-ending injury in 2024 and is starting the season on the PUP list.
Now that Onwuzurike will miss the season, it would not be surprising to see the Lions add depth at defensive tackle.
The Lions will likely start the season with veteran D.J. Reader and rookie Tyleik Williams starting on the interior. Free agent addition Roy Lopez and third-year player Brodric Martin should provide depth. That is a thin position group without another body.
Onwuzurike’s injury is even worse for Detroit because he routinely chipped in on the edge. In fact, a majority of Onwuzurike’s snaps in 2024 came lined up over the offensive tackle or outside the tackle on the edge, per PFF.
Detroit needs to find an Onwuzurike replacement, and possibly another edge rusher, before the start of the 2025 NFL season.
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